Even when you know your child is in heaven, it still hurts like hell. Five years are gone yet it seems like yesterday and the people have not forgotten the nightmare that was unfolded on this day back in 2014. The December 16 attack on the Army Public School (APS) in Peshawar was the worst […]
M.A. Jinnah — the born leader
“Mohammad Ali Jinnah was the recipient of devotion and loyalty seldom accorded to a man”. This was the glowing tribute that President Truman of the United States paid to the Quaid-i-Azam. According to Allama Iqbal, Jinnah was the “only Muslim in India to whom a community had a right to look up for safe guidance”. […]
Beyond tears: living after 12/14
The December 16 attack on the Army Public School (APS)in Peshawar was the worst terrorist act in Pakistan’s history that claimed the lives of more than 149 people, including 134 children, and a nearly equal number injured. Terrorism has claimed more than seventy thousands of innocent lives in Pakistan over the last several years, but […]
Skills development for inclusive and sustainable growth
Akin to democracy, free markets, freedom of the press and universal human rights, education is one of those subjects whose virtue is considered self-evident. In industrially advanced states, education has become an extension of the capitalist system. In other words, the purpose of education is to provide for the economic prosperity of a country. Similarly […]
Self-appointed warders of religion
Asia Bibi’s case gained national prominence because of brave, pluralist politician like Salman Taseer who served as the 26th Governor of Punjab from 2008 until his assassination in 2011. He was a successful businessman and a liberal politician, who remained a member of the Pakistan Peoples Party. He gave interviews saying that he had sought […]
Pakistan, Israel and the Muslim world
The conflict between Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs has endured for more than a century. It centres on control of territory and, as common in such disputes, is characterized by conquest, destruction, and revenge, with all the animosity and sorrow that these actions bring. Because the land in question is terra sancta to three major […]
21st century Peshawar getting out of control
My city Peshawar is the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), a road and rail centre near the famed Khyber Pass, an important military and communications centre, the historical limit of the Grand Trunk Road of Indo-Pak, and the major depot for trade with Afghanistan. It is famous for local handicrafts, fruit farms, Industries that include […]
Pakistan: the impacts of urbanisation on society
Pakistan is one of the fastest urbanising countries in South Asia and the share of urban population has risen from 17 percent in 1951 to 37 percent in 2010, and to 39.7 percent in 2017 with annual rate of urban change at 2.77 percent. Projections show that in next 10 to 15 years half of […]
The art of diplomacy
I still remember my professor Iqbal Tajik who during a lecture on diplomacy in the postgraduate class back in late 90s, compared it with nations’ chess-board meant to play power gamesbased on calculations. His brilliant definition calling “diplomacy as the art of saying good doggie till you have time to pick up the stick” depicts […]
How will Pakistan match to its population boom?
For years, Pakistan’s soaring population growth has been evident in increasingly crowded roads, malls, schools, hospitals, parks, and communities across the country. No one is serious to understand the reasons until now.6th Population and Housing Census of Pakistan says Pakistan has surged to a staggering 207.8 million, showing an increase of 75.4 million people in […]